Professor Alice Sullivan, who led a government review on sex and gender data, has warned the University of Bristol she is prepared to take legal action after protesters disrupted a scheduled lecture on campus. Sullivan told the BBC that some attendees stayed away because they felt intimidated; she has written to the Office for Students and warned the university it failed to protect free-speech rights. The university said the event proceeded safely despite unacceptable disruption. A related report confirms the university faces potential legal scrutiny under England’s new freedom-of-speech law. The dispute highlights cross-border tensions over campus protest, speaker protections and how institutions balance protest rights with duties to safeguard events and visiting scholars.